All of us at BrainPosse believe that a code of behavior is essential. In fact, we've had one from way before day one. There are five "Uns" we won't do. This seems like a good time to spell it out.  

(There's no copyright notice on this. We invite other marketing communications firms to adopt it, too.)

It's really simple. We won't do anything:

Unlawful. There are things that can get someone at the advertiser or agency put into jail (and on the losing end of a big civil lawsuit). Some examples of stuff that can put you in the slammer:

• False advertising (fraud).
  
• Illegal lotteries (federal gambling law violation).
  
• Using copyrighted material like music without securing rights (theft of intellectual property).
  
• Rigged bills so one party to a co-op advertising agreement ends up paying more than the agreed-upon share (fraud).

Unethical. Folks might not get incarcerated for these lapses, but some of them can still lead to fines and/or lawsuits. Others are just wrong. So while perpetrators might not have to literally pay for their misdeeds, they should be ashamed. A few of the things in this category:

• Plagiarism. Even if the original creator forgot to add a ©, our legal system respects common-law copyright.
  
• Stiffing talent on re-use fees just because they're out of town and will never know. If they do find out, there can – and should – be substantial damages.
  
• Graft. Kickbacks, gifts and bribes, whether from agencies to client decision makers, or from suppliers to agency people. They're sometimes unlawful and always despicable.
  
• Violating confidentiality. Sharing a client's information with anyone else without the client's permission is a breach of trust.
  

Unprofessional. Shoddy work reflects poorly on marketing communications companies that do it and clients who accept it (or, sometimes, insist on it). What's unprofessional? Among other things:

• Not knowing – and applying – the proven principles of marketing communications.
  
• Promising to do a job in less time or for a less money than needed to do it well. If the schedule and/or budget are chiseled in stone, change the parameters of the job to something that can be done well with the available resources.
  
• Using a really bad concept because a client likes it (or, more likely, thought it up in the first place). Some client ideas are great. Some suck. Just like agency ideas. Agencies that accept the good client ideas and reject the bad ones will lose a client from time to time. But they won't lose their self respect.
  
• Not letting professionals do their work. If you know more about photography than the photographer, you hired the wrong photographer. Hire the best you can get, then let her or him do the job. Same for media plans, copy, design and every other aspect of the business.

Unlikely to achieve the results the client expects. The client loses money and opportunity and the agency loses reputation (and often clients) by launching projects with little or no chance of success. A few of the most common:

• Trying to be all things to all people. "Lowest price and highest quality." or "A century-old tradition and technological leadership" set up a cognitive dissonance that results in nothing being communicated.
  
• Plans that aren't based on reality. Aiming for half the market with a tenth of a competitor's budget won't work unless the competitor is really incompetent.  
  
• Using the wrong tool for the job. Like talk radio to reach teens.
  
• Bogus blogs, fake celebrity testimonials, meaningless "Official photocopier of the NFL" endorsements. As the late, great David Ogilvy once said: "The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife."

And anything we're unable to do extremely well. We're very good at what we do. If the project is something we're not good at, we'll recommend someone from our fat Rolodexes® and over-stuffed Blackberries.

• Stick with what you know. We've got a great accountant. But we wouldn't go to him for an appendectomy.
  
• If a marketing communications company says "We think we can do that," they can't. They have no business doing anything they don't absolutely know they can do. And have done successfully more than once or twice.
  
• Clients shouldn't have to pay professional prices for unprofessional work.
  
• Part of this is simple self interest. We've seen communications companies who are very good at one sort of project blow their credibility by getting greedy and taking on something they know nothing about. And part is pride. We do excellent work. Period.

The marketing communications industry has an image just a few notches above lawyers and politicians. In many cases that mistrust is completely deserved.

 But despite some evidence to the contrary, we really believe that ethical behavior pays off. And even if it doesn't, being straight shooters makes it a lot easier to look in the mirror while we brush our teeth.

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